McAleese should stop attacking the Church
IN the 1980s, Mary McAleese was adamantly supporting the bishops at their forum and arguing against a provision for divorce, which she insisted would ‘devalue the institution for all of us’.
I wonder did she realise then that not only would she be advocating at a later date for full legal marriage for gay people, but that she’d reach the stage of describing the ‘conscript’ status of Irish infants to the nation, all without retracting anything she said or did back then when she was up close and personal with the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. MARIE MacSWEENEY,
Drogheda. ...MARY McAleese – can you please stop knocking the Catholic Church using the privileged position that you once held.
As Jesus once said, if you are not for me, then you are against me.
If you are a real Catholic then make up your mind.
To an ordinary citizen like me, you seem to be craving attention, and of course some of the media seem to hang on your every word
It’s time you discovered the endless positives and blessings of our Catholic religion, not the negatives you seem to try to find in every aspect of our precious faith. MÁIRTÍN Mac DONNACHA,
Kerrykeel. Co. Donegal.
Hillary’s no heroine
AS A graduate and former employee of Trinity College, I am surprised and disappointed that Trinity awarded an honorary doctorate to Hillary Clinton. Mrs Clinton was US secretary of state during the overthrow of the Libyan government in 2011, which was largely assisted by US and Nato bombing campaigns.
On October 20, 2011, the day Gaddafi was brutally murdered, she was interviewed by CBS News. She laughed as she said: ‘We came, we saw and he died.’
She blames many people including Vladimir Putin, Barack Obama, James Comey and Bernie Sanders for her defeat in the US presidential election, but the reality is that at a time when she should have been by far the preferred candidate, given the unsuitability of her main opponent, Donald Trump, it is clear that the majority of US citizens simply neither liked nor trusted Hillary Clinton.
Why did Trinity award an honorary doctorate to such a failed politician? Perhaps the answer is contained in TCD’s website, which says, with regard to honorary doctorates: ‘Nominations are sought for individuals of [...] exceptional achievement whose acceptance of an honorary degree would add lustre to this university.’
This seems to suggest the purpose of such awards is adding lustre to the university. But awards like this one to Hillary Rodham Clinton are more likely to tarnish the reputation of TCD. DR EDWARD HORGAN,
Limerick. ... HOW interesting to read Hillary Clinton’s comments on the separation of children from their parents in the immigration row in the US, where she referred to the ‘most vulnerable among us’.
She then continued to laud ‘the win in the referendum’ on abortion here in Ireland, without acknowledging that this ‘win’ ensured that the ‘most vulnerable of all’, the baby in the womb, is now in danger of death up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. The lady certainly does not do irony. MARY STEWART,
Donegal town.
Peaky performance
KERRY TD Michael Healy-Rae was furious after having his bike stolen recently in Dublin city.
The perma-hatted politician, who looks like a character from the period drama Peaky Blinders, raged at the thief on Twitter, saying: ‘I’m looking for you, I will find you and it will be a sorry day for you that you ever decided to mess with me and my property.’
That’s the kind of threat you’d imagine Peaky Blinders enforcer Arthur Shelby Jr making before tracking down his enemy and dispatching him into an early grave.
There might, however, be an innocent explanation. Michael left his unsecured bike propped up against a tree.
A tourist may have borrowed the bike believing it to be the Irish version of the free bike-share scheme. If Michael checks the trees close to tourist hot-spots in Dublin, he might find his bike. GER CARSON,
Co. Donegal.
Protect our hares
A VITAL decision that will impact on thousands of hares will soon be made. Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Josepha Madigan will shortly be considering a licence application for another season of hare coursing.
The Campaign for the Abolition of Cruel Sports is urgently appealing to the Minister to refuse this licence. Coursing involves an orchestrated and unwarranted attack on the welfare and conservationist status of the Irish hare – a species that wildlife experts say is ‘in trouble’, with numbers having ‘declined significantly’.
With growing fears for its future, the species needs protection from all threats, including coursing, hunting and shooting. Instead of licensing another five months of cruel hare baiting, Minister Madigan should grant total protection to the embattled Irish hare – a wonderful, iconic creature. JOHN FITZGERALD,
(Campaign for the Abolition of Cruel Sports),
Callan, Co. Kilkenny.